Wheel stop



July 10, 1962 s. w. HAYES 3,043,238

WHEEL. STOP Filed March 25, 1957 s Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

S. W. HAYES July 10, 1962 WHEEL. STOP I 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 25,195?

INVENTOR.

S. W. HAYES July 10, 1962 WHEEL STOP 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 25, 1957 INVENTOR. 5ianley mm) M, QJMWMQ ww w Unite The present invention is directed to a new and simplitied wheel stop of the type sometimes referred to as scotch block or the like used on railway tracks. More particularly, it is directed to a type of wheel stop adapted to slide along the rail and provided with portions extending below the base of the rail into abutting relationship with the ties and ballast. Wheel stops of this character with portions extending below the base of the rail and arranged to slide along the rail under. car wheel impact provide a cushion stop for the car wheels because the force of the impact is transmitted to ties and to the ballast. 'When the stop is struck by a moving car wheel, it moves along the 'rail and moves the tie in the ballast and may even compress the tie somewhat so that there is provided a shock absorbing resistance that minimizes the danger either to the car or to the rails or to the stop itself. 7

Heretofore, wheel stops of the character described above have been relatively heavy and high. It is'the object of the present invention to provide a new and improved wheel stop of the character set forth above which is lower, uses less material, and as a consequence, is lighter and can be made more simply and inexpensively than prior wheel stops. Certain features of the stop disclosed herein are disclosed and claimed in a divisional application Serial No. 187,485, filed April 16, 1962.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new and improved wheel stop of the aforesaid character which can be readily secured to a rail by means enabling the stop to be used as a portable stop if desired.

Y A further object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved wheel stop having spaced apart wheel abutments, one of which is disposed only a short distance above the top of the rail and the other which is disposed at the upper part of the stop which has a height of about fourteen inches above the top of the rail. A stop of this construction can be made simply and to be relatively light. It has been found, for example, that the steps can be constructed with a weight of about one hundred and thirty pounds each and thus compare'very favorably with earlier forms which weigh approximately one hundred and fifty-five or one hundred and seventy-five pounds each.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a wheel stop of the type set forth in the preceding paragraph where the abutments are separated by an intermediate arcuate cut-out portion so as to prevent the car wheel from striking the stop except at the abutments. The abutments are constructed so that when both are engaged the wheel is in complete connection with only the abutments, it cannot rise any further, and the stress of impact is transmitted rearwardly and downwardly at an angle of about forty-five degrees.

A still further object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved wheel stop including hinged clamping means engageable with opposite sides of the rail head and constructed and arranged so as to be compact and strong and having a strong section between the hinge pivot and the portion of the hinged clamp means closest to the rail when the clamping means is in clamping position. v

A further object of the present invention is the provision' of a new and improved wheel stop including hinged clamping means engageable with opposite sides of the 3,043,238 Patented July 10, 1962 "ice.

rail head with which are associated individually adjustable means such as cams so that the stop may be readily and effectively applied to worn rails requiring different adjustments of the clamping means at the two sides of the rail.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved wheel stop with hinged clamping means operable by cam means and adapted to be held in adjusted position by a single locking means and which is constructed as a unit so that the parts cannot be-lost or removed except by cutting metal.

In brief, the wheel stop of the present invention includes abutment structure having two spaced apart Wheel abutments, one of which is spaced at short distance, such as about one and one-half to two and one-half inches, above the top of the rail head and the other of which is located at the upper portion of the stop, as at a height of about twelve and one-half to fourteen inches above the top of the rail head, and which abutment structure is supported for sliding movement on top of the rail head. The abutments are also so constructed that when both are engaged the stress of impact is transmitted rearwardly and downwardly at an angle of about forty-five degrees. The wheel stop includes holding down means adapted to engage the opposite undersides "of the rail head in such manner as to hold the wheel stop upright but not to prevent sliding under car wheel impact. The stop includes also structure extending downwardly at opposite sides of the rail from the abutment means down below the base of the rail head on opposite sides of the rail, which structure transmits the force of impact to the ties and ballast to provide a cushion stop. The novel clamping means of the present invention includes clamping elements engageable with opposite sides of the rail head and hingedly supported on hinge shafts located below the top of the rail head. The hinge shafts are secured to supporting structures at opposite sides of an abutment defining plate, the supporting structures each consisting of supports having vertical portions for the hinge shafts and upwardly diverging portions between which are located cam means for adjustably positioning the clamping elements. The clamping elements are held in adjusted position by individually adjustable circular cams or wedges supported at opposite sides of the abutment structure by wedge shafts mounted on the abutment structure. The wedges are locked in adjusted position by a single wedge bearing against the circular wedges and abutment structure. The clamping elements are located substantially at and below the rail head and are constructed to have a strong section to resist upward or overturning movement of the abutment structure under car wheel impact. N0 wrenches are required for installation of the stop and it is substantially impossible rigidly to secure the stop to the rail. Accordingly, the desired sliding of the stop under car wheel impact is insured. Also, the block can be readily installed and moved about so that it can be used as a portable wheel stop, if'so desired.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my earlier filed and copending applications Serial Nos. 7 407,209, filed February 1, 1954, and 597,984, filed July 16, 1956, both now abandoned.

The invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a wheel stop constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the wheel stop of FIG. 1, the view being along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the wheel stop of FIG. 1 taken along the line 33 thereof;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the 7 line 44 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 55 of FIG. 1 and showing the circular cam and asso: ciated locking wedge constructiong and i FIG. 6 is' an explodedisometric view'of the wheel stop withthe sidebrack'ets omitted. 7 h 7, I The wheel stop of the present invention, indicated 'as 7 a whole by the reference character 10, includes a wheel abutment constituted primarily by "a vertically disposed metal plate 12; The stop includes also a bracket structure indicated by the reference character 14 extending outwardly at opposite sides of the rail and downwardly to below the base of the rail, which is indicated by' the reference character 16 and mounted on spaced apart ties I 18 in usual manner; The stop'includes also holding and V guiding means 20. engaging theopposite undersides of the as alreadyindicated,resides 'in the construction of the wheel abutment 12. It is preferably made from a' single piece of metal plate having a thickness of about one inch. The forward edge'of the abutment, which is indicated by the, reference character 22, is constructed and arranged to provide two spaced apart wheel abutments 24 and 26, of which the former is the upper abutment and the latter the lower one. Thelower abutment 26 is at 'the front "edge of the plate 12 and quite near the upper surface of the rail 16, while the upper abutment 24 is at the upper end of the abutment and, in accordance with one of the features of the invention, rises only to a height of fourteen inches "above "the upper surface of the rail. The upper abutment 24 is constituted by a substantially straight "portion having'a length of about one and onehalf inchesan'd'is disposed at-an angle of about twelve Y 'and one-half'degreesfrom the'vertical. The lower abutment 2.6 i s constitutedbya substantially straight portion 'havinga length of about one and one-half inches, disposed at an angle of 'about thirty degrees relative to the horizontal, and located at a height extending from one and one-half to two and one-half inches above the track; The

abutments are separated by an intermediate arcuate or recessed portion-27- so thatawheel will contact only the lower stop 26 or both the upper stop 24 and the lower stop 26; The foregoing construction separates the two abutments a maximum distance for a low wheel stop a 4 a bracket structure, as best noted from FIG. 6, takes "the form of a saddle having downwardly extending legs 42 and 44 at the opposite sides of the rail and spaced apart a sufficient distance to clear the base of the rail 16. The upper portions of the arm are made stronger and spaced apart a lesserdistance in order ,1fairly closely to receive the rail head, as best illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. The top of the rail is straddled by a transverse or bight portion 46 which is weldedto the rear vertical surface 36 of the abutment plate and to the rear edge of the transverse horizontal plate 40. Additionalstrength and; rigidity is provided and the forces of impact are transmitted to the dependent leg portions 42 and 44 of the bracket 14 by the somewhat triangularly shaped and diagonally'located plates 4% audit) which are welded to the dependent leg portions and to the underside of the horizontalplate as 'bestshown in FIG. 3. The diagonal plates are provided with relatively short transverse front edges 52 for a purpose which will be brought out in greater detail shortly. The structure of the stop including the abutment plate, the bracket stru'c ture, the horizontal plate 40 and the diagonal plates 48 and 50 are disclosed and claimed in the earlier referred to divisional application Serial No. 187,485. V V

The clamping and guidingfmeans 20 of the present invention will now be described in detail. It includes the opposed clamping elements 60a and60b movably mounted at opposite sides of the rail head to engage the opposite under'sides 62 of the rail head. The elements are hingedly or pivotally mounted on hinge shafts 64 which may be fixedly secured to opposite sides of the abutment plate by mounting or supporting braces 66 welded at their inner edges to the opposite sides of the abutment plate and the rear ones of which are welded to the short edges '52 of the diagonal plates 48 and 50. The braces have cut out portions 68 at their inner lower corners to'provide space for the rail head. The shafts 64 extend through aligned openings in the braces and the projecting portions'are welded to the braces, thereby to provide a rugged and strong support forrotatably receiving the clamping elements 60., The shafts are so welded that their axes are parallel to the rail and so that the'clamping elements move in a plane substantially at right angles to the rail.

The clamping elements are generally circular in configuration to make them'sturdy in construction. 7 A portion of the periphery of each is cut away to provide a generally radial rail engaging surface 70 and a somewhat similar surface 72 for cooperation with the cam means 74 which are provided for locating and positioning the clamping element as will be described shortly. The surface 70 is sutficiently long'to engage the undersides of the trail head of the largest rail for which the top is deand has been found: to be etfective in stopping a wheel i and at the same time it prevents the wheel from jumping over the'stop even though the stop itself is quite low. The abutments are'so; arranged that a wheel contacting both'is in complete connection with both abutments, as shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1, and raised above the track. The wheel is prevented'from rising and going over the stop and the stress of impact is transmitted to the rear and downwardly" at "an angle of about forty-five V lea s- Theplate 12'is illustrated as generally triangular in shape. In addition to the two abutments 24 and 26 and the intermediate recessed portion 27, it includes a low front vertical-edge 30, a short generally horizontal upper signed. The surfaces 72 are inclined somewhat for better cooperation with the cam. The clamping elements may be made of high ,strength'alloy steelin order to provide adequate strength. a

edge 32 inclined straight rear edge 34, and a low vertical edge 36. The bottom is generally horizontal but is cut away as indicated byfthe reference character 38 for thereception of a horizontal base plate 40 extending some distance beyond the opposite sides of the top of the rail headf I The force of the wheel stopping'impact is transmitted to the ties and ballast by thebracket structure 14. This to the clamping element.

' -It hould be noted that the'pivot shafts are substantially below the tops of the rail head, being generally in the plane of the head. The clamping elements are also supported off center. The result is a compact and strong construction providing a strong section in the elements between the hinge shafts and the rail head clamping surfaces 70 in the clamping position, as may be noted particularly from FIG. 4. 7 a

The clamping elements are adjusted and held in adjusted positions by the cam means 74. This means includes the separate cam elements174a and 74b individually rotatably mounted at opposite sides of the plate 12 upon a cam shaft 76 mounted upon the abutment plate substantially centrally between the divergent portions of the braces, the divergent portions providing space for the cam so .that it can be located in close proximity The cam shaft. 76 extends through an opening77 in the, abutment'plate 12. The

are actually in the form of circular wedges. Each have laterally inclined outer surfaces 82a and 82b which engage the radial and inclined surfaces 72 of' the clamping elements. Thus, as the cams 74 are rotated, the clamping elements are moved about their shafts. The wedges are, as already indicated, individually movable so that the clamping elements can be moved a different extent to provide the necessary clamping action even if the rails are of different dimensions as the results of wear or the like.

The clamping elements and cam wedges are held in adjusted position by a single locking element 84- taking the form of a straight wedge. As best shown in FIG. 5, the wedge extends through an opening 87 in plate 12 above the cams. Its upper inclined surface 87 bears against the plate and the opposite ends of the lower straight side 88 bear against the peripheries of the cams. Thus, as the wedge is driven into place, the cams and clamping elements are securely locked in place.

The wedge 84 is constructed so that it cannot be removed from the stop. Thus, one end is made larger than the opening 87 and the other end is provided with a transverse bar 90 of the length greater than the largest dimension of the opening. The result is a wheel stop that has no removable parts.

It is apparent from the foregoing detailed description of the present invention that the wheel stop of the invention can be constructed and fabricated readily from a plurality of pieces of bars and plates, all of which can be cut and readily welded to produce the wheel stop. Installation of the stop or of a pair of stops on the rails is accomplished in a very easy manner. All that is necessary is to open the clamping means and to place the stop astraddle of the rail and with the lower portion of the leg portions 42 and 44 of the impact transmitting bracket disposed adjacent the tie, as best illustrated in FIG. 1. The wheel stop is held in central and vertical position on the rail by the clamping elements 60. The circular wedge cams are turned to a light bearing such that the wheel stop as a whole may shake slightly sidewise at the top. The locking wedge 84 then is tapped or struck sufficiently so that it bears on the main plate and the two circular wedges. When this is done the wheel stop is then vertical and loose enough to move easily on the rail. If it is desired to move the wheel stop, it may be readily loosened. All that is necessary is to loosen the locking wedge after which the circular wedges are turned to free the clamping elements and the latter are then moved so as to free the wheel stop from the rail head. The wheel stop is light so that if it is desired, it may be readily used as a portable stop. No screw threads are used so that the stop cannot be rigidly fixed to the rail.. Accordingly, it will always absorb in the ballast the car wheel impact.

When the wheel stop is struck by a wheel, the lower abutment 26 may be either first or only engaged by the wheel. If the car and wheel move at a relatively low rate, this abutment may be engaged. It should be noted that this lower abutment is relatively low in comparison to the height of the wheel and inclined somewhat so that it has a tendency to lift the wheel. However, if the car wheels are traveling with sufficient momentum, the wheel will be lifted by the abutment 26 until it strikes the top abutment 24 which is located a substantial distance to the rear as well as above the lower abutment. The two abutments are separated by the intermediate recessed portion 27 which is configured and dimensioned so as not to be engaged by the rail wheel. There will, therefore, be no tendency for the wheel to climb along the stop and it has been found in practice that stops constructed as e described and illustrated are very effective in stopping cars.

The stress of impact of a car wheel is transmitted rearwardly and downwardly at an angle ofabout forty-five degrees onto the track andagainst the tiesand ballast to a provide an effective cushion stop of the car.

While the present invention has been described in connection with the illustrated devices, it should be understood that the details thereof are not intended to be limitative of the invention except insofar as set forth in the accompanying claims. I

What I claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is as follows:

1. A wheel stop adapted to be installed upon a rail, in-

Y eluding in combination, wheel abutment structure having a forward edge defining wheel abutment means and adapted to be mounted on top of the rail, bracket structure secured to said abutment structure and extending into the road bed at opposite sides of the rail, and' guiding and holding means secured to said abutment structure forwardly of said bracket structure for holding the stop seated upon the rail, said guiding and holding means including rail head clamping elements at opposite sides of the rail, hinge shafts secured to opposite sides of said abutment structure at substantially the level of and close to the rail head for supporting said clamping elements for movement toward and away from the rail head, and cam means mounted on said abutment structure for positioning said clamping elements.

2. A wheel stop adapted to be installed upon a rail, including in combination, wheel abutment structure having a forward edge defining wheel abutment means and adapted to be mounted on top of the rail, bracket structure secured to said abutment structure and extending into the road bed at opposite sides of the rail, and guiding and holding means secured to said abutment structure forwardly of said bracket structure for holding the stop seated upon the rail, said guiding and holding means including rail head clamping elements at opposite sides of the rail, hinge shafts movably mounting said elements for movement toward and away from the rail head, and a pair of spaced apart mounting braces secured to each side of said abutment structure for supporting said shafts at substantially the level of the rail head and with the clamping elements between the braces, and cam means mounted on said abutment structure for positioning said clamping elements.

3. A wheel stop as claimed in claim 2. wherein said mounting braces each includes a lower vertical portion supporting one end of a shaft and a divergent upper portion above which said cam means are located.

4. A wheel stop adapted to be installed upon a rail, including in combination, an abutment element adapted to be mounted on top of the rail and rising to a height somewhat less than the radius of wheels for which the stop is intended for use, said abutment element having a first wheel abutment at its forward and lower end inclined upwardly and rearwardly at an angle of about thirty degrees, a second wheel abutment located rearwardly of and above said first abutment and inclined upwardly and rearwardly at an angle of about twelve and one-half degrees from the vertical and so that a moving wheel engages only the lower abutment or engages first the lower abutment and then the upper abutment while remaining in engagement with the lower one, and an intermediate arcuate recessed portion between said two abutments, bracket structure secured to the rear of said element and having dependent leg portions of a length such as to extend into the road bed at opposite sides of the rail, and guiding and holding means secured to said element in front of said bracket structure and substantially underneath said second abutment for holding the stop seated upon the rail.

(References on following page) l Regegen ces lited in the file Of dlfi patent NITED STATES PATENTS .1 V I Y wilhelmsen Mar. 30,1 89] 'McD ermid Feb. 11, 19 19 McGahey Apr. 13, 19 26 Hayes June 28, 1932 Hayes May 23, 1933 Hayes -Q--- Mar. 25,1941

I Great B ritun Jan. 3,1924 

